Page 8

CHAPTER 8

Oleksi

I can’t believe how tense I’ve been today. I’ve been anticipating this evening the whole fucking day like a school boy about to lose his virginity. And then she walked through the door. Head held high gliding across the polished floor on her two inch heels in that little black dress that moved with her, hugging her toned form. Simple, elegant and fucking lethal.

My eyes devour her as she eats her food. Her blonde curls bouncing around her beautiful face with just a lick of mascara highlighting her ridiculously long eyelashes and gloss shining her pink bow shaped lips.

I can see Sabrina is guarded. That’s nothing new. But there’s something else tonight—nerves humming under her skin. Her fingers linger too long on her glass. She’s hyper-aware of me—I saw it in her eyes the moment hers found me in the room. And the thought of it is intoxicating.

I top off her champagne. “Tell me about Tara.”

Her spine straightens, and she glances down at her plate. “What do you want to know?”

“How about starting with the truth of why she ran away.”

She lifts her glass to her lips, stalling. “Who told you she ran away?”

“Do you think she was kidnapped?” My brow furrows. I hadn’t thought of that as an option.

“No.” She shakes her head and looks away—oh yes she’s definitely hiding something. Sabrina takes another sip of champagne before making eye contact again. “Tara had to leave.”

Okay, I was not expecting that. “Why?”

“I think you know that already,” Sabrina fires back.

“She was having an affair with my brother,” I acknowledge.

“Yes and Irina found out. She threatened Tara and my sister was worried that the threat wouldn’t stop with just her,” Sabrina tells me. This time her eyes hold mine and I can see her daring me to challenge her truth. “She left to protect us and to hide from the wrath of Irina.”

“I see.” Not taking my eyes from her I lift my glass to my lips and notice her pupils dilate before she quickly glances away turning her attention back to her plate. “Sabrina, the reason I want to help you find Tara is because she’s not safe.”

Her beautiful blue eyes snap to mine. Wide with uncertainty. “What do you mean?”

“I think the same people who killed my brother are looking for her.”

She pales. It's real. Her panic. Her confusion. But she’s still holding something back.

“Why would they be after Tara?” Sabrina’s eyes become focused again as her brilliant mind turns over my words. “That doesn't make sense. Other than an affair, Tara wasn’t connected to your brother.”

“She managed the Ember Club,” I remind her.

“Yes, but she didn’t do the books or deal with all the shady shit that went on, on the other side of your brother’s business,” Sabrina says, raising her chin. “Tara would never jeopardize a career she was working so hard toward by getting caught up in mob stuff.”

“And you know that for sure?” Her look of pure disdain when she said mob stuff grates along my nerves and sparks a twinge of anger in my gut.

I extinguish it, not too sure why Sabrina looking down on my family’s business would cause that reaction in me. I’ve had people say worse. They lived to regret it but it never hit me like it did when she did it.

“Yes.” Sabrina’s voice rings with confidence in her conviction. “Tara would never do anything shady.”

“She fucked my married brother.” The words cut across the table before I can stop them and delivered like a verbal slap in the face. Fuck! I can’t let her get under my skin like this. It’s not the plan. “That’s shady.”

“Did it ever occur to you that maybe your brother gave her no choice?” Sabrina’s quick mind and sharp tongue hits back at me.

Touche pretty little one. “Are you accusing my brother of rape?”

“I’m putting it out there as an option not to be overlooked,” Sabrina counters like a true attorney.

“Well put,” I tell her, raising my glass. “Said like a true attorney.”

Her eyes widen as she stares at me startled. “Who told you about that?”

“Come now, Sabrina. Your mother brags about her daughters’ education and how intelligent they are all the time,” I answer. “I knew about your law degree before I’d even met you.”

“Oh God!” Sabrina covers her face in embarrassment. “That sounds like something my mother would do.” She rolls her eyes and shakes her head. “That’s one of my biggest disappointments to her is choosing to be a dancer rather than use my degree.”

“Why aren’t you an attorney?” My curiosity is piqued. “

You could be earning a hell of a lot more than you do as a dancer.”

“I love to dance,” Sabrina answers and drains her glass which I top up for her. “I could never be cooped up in a stuffy office all day. I like my freedom and knowing I’m doing something I want to do and not a job I have to do.”

“I get that.” I nod and we fall into silence for a few moments before I move the conversation back to Tara. “Have you heard anything from your sister?”

Sabrina looks at me with raised brows. “Are you trying to trick me into telling you something you think I’m hiding by jumping through subjects to keep me off guard?”

Huh! She really is smart, perceptive, and alert—fuck now I want to bend her to my will even more.

“Are you hedging your answers to keep from telling me something?” I ask.

“No.” Sabrina’s face becomes a mask as she pushes her plate aside, sits back in her chair, and picks up the champagne flute. “I’m not answering because I’ve told you what I know.”

“When did you notice your sister had gone missing?” I ignore her statement and hit her with another question.

“Fifteen… no, it’s almost sixteen months now,” Sabrina replies calmly. “I got home late from a dance shift to find a note on the coffee table in the living room. I can tell you word for word what it said if you like.” Before I can reply she gives me the cliffs notes of the letter. “It was addressed to my mother and me. In it Tara explained that she’d been having an affair with your brother. Irina found out and had threatened her. She was leaving to keep us safe and before Irina could put her six-feet under.”

“But you only hired a private detective eight months ago to start looking for her.” Pushing my plate aside I lean my elbows on the table. “That's around the same time Gavriil and Irina were killed.”

“And you think there's a connection?” Sabrina gapes at me in disbelief but something flickers in her eyes that’s gone too quick for me to make out. “My sister was long gone the day your brother was killed and Tara had nothing to do with that.” Her eyes narrow suspiciously, anger sparking in their depths. “Is this why you really want to help find my sister? Not because you think she’s in danger but because you think she’s somehow involved in what happened to Gavriil?”

“I’m putting it out there as an option not to be overlooked ,” I knock her words back at her.

Her brows shoot up as she tries to fight off a smile. “Well played,” she acknowledges with a small salute of her glass. She sighs. “Look, I’ve told you everything I know. I haven’t heard from or seen Tara since she disappeared from my life and left me a note.” Her eyes darken with emotion and now I know she’s telling me the truth or at least part of it. “My mother waited for eight months because…” She swallows. “We had a lot going on and I guess she was hoping that Tara would come back. Hiring a PI would mean my mother had to face the fact that Tara might not be coming back and we’d never see her again.”

I can see she’s upset and my heart squeezes for her but still my gut tells me she’s holding something back but I’m not going to push it now. I have learned a lot more than I knew before about Tara Craft so for now and enjoy the rest of the evening with her. My cock stirs at the thought of getting closer to the alluring Sabrina.

“Are you finished eating?”

“Yes, thank you,” Sabrina gives me a tight smile and I can see she’s starting to shift uncomfortably in her seat.

“Would you like some coffee?”

“No thank you,” Sabrina declines.

“More champagne?”

“I… it’s late.” Sabrina moves the napkin from her lap and places it on the table. “I really should go home.”

“But we haven’t discussed me helping you find your sister.” I can’t let her go—not yet. “And we still have one bottle of champagne that’s already open.” My smile spreads slowly and my eyes hold hers. “Why don’t we take this and move to the living room to… discuss how I can help you—and your mother find your sister?”

She stares at me as if entranced for a few seconds and that's when I see it—longing. Sabrina shifts slightly in her seat as a soft flush brushes her cheeks. I hide the knowing smile on my lips by patting them with my napkin. Standing I walk around the table and pull her chair out then offer her my hand.

“Come on, you don’t want me to waste this delectable champagne?” I raise an eyebrow. “You’re not working tomorrow so you can sleep in.” My brow furrows. “Unless this is about your sugar daddy…” the memory of the older man that showed up at her apartment hits me in the gut like a punch.

Sabrina looks up at me, confusion furrowing her brow. “Who?” Then her eyes widen as it dawns on her. “Oh you’re talking about Sam.”

“Yes, Sam.” I keep a small smile on my face to hide the smoldering embers of anger I feel thinking about that old man touching her, running his hands over her soft milky skin… My thoughts skid to a halt. What the fuck; get a grip. I shake the feeling off and clear the old fucker from my mind.

“Sam is out of town,” Sabrina says, putting her small hand in mine.

The moment my skin comes into contact with hers a bolt of electricity shoots up my arm and hits me in the cock. As I close my large hand around hers I know that I’m going to make her mine and she’s going to beg me to keep her—she just doesn’t know it—yet.

I gently pull her from the chair and deliberately yank her close to me. Our bodies touch as she stumbles against me, her other hand flattening against my chest. Her head tilts back and our eyes lock. I see her breath catch as her pupils once again dilate and my shaft stirs between us.

My look tells her I want her to know where this is ultimately going. The sharp rise and fall of her breast and how hard she swallows tells me she understands and the fact she hasn’t run for the door tells me all I want to know.